The Tether
by redambition
Summary: The door opened, revealing someone breathtakingly familiar. Her lungs filled with air for the first time in 2 months as she stared at him, blinking repeatedly to make sure it wasn't a trick of her eyes. It wasn't, Finn was really here. She reached out, placing a hand on his chest, gasping as she felt the heat coming from his skin. "Finn...you're alive?" Alt Season 5 Finchel


_**I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.**_

_**This is a One-Shot about what I desperately wished would happen for the Finchel storyline in Season 5 after The Quarterback. I hope that it doesn't offend, or upset anyone. I hope it puts a smile on your face like it does mine.**_

_****This is a repost of the same story that I posted recently. I haven't changed anything, just condensed it into a one shot so that there would be no confusion over whether it was over or not! Sorry if this throws anyone off!****_

Rachel lay curled into a ball on her bed, clutching the picture of him to her chest as she let the memories have her. She had tried in the beginning, to suppress the memory of him, not let herself be miserable. But she was actually the most miserable when she _didn't_ think of him. Most nights she laid in bed, propped up on her side as she talked to him about her day, and told him how much she missed and loved him. She would sing, or read him stories, whatever she felt compelled to do at the time. It comforted her, talking to him like that, imagining he was there with her. Some part of her, some probably psychotic part, believed that they were still connected somehow. It made her think of the speech that Coach Sylvester had given at her sister's funeral, about being tethered to someone. She never told him, but that's how she always felt about Finn. So she clung to that connection in his absence, holding onto it for dear life to get her through this.

She pulled back to look at the photo, her favorite one of him. He was sitting behind the drum set, his sticks in hand and a big goofy smile on his face. She remembered that day perfectly; back when things were easy, and normal; back when she was happy. She would never know that kind of life again.

Most people said she was crazy, holding onto a ghost. But the fact of the matter was, _she_ was the ghost. He may be the one not physically here anymore, but he had taken a part of her with him when he went. She knew in her heart that there would never be another Finn, no one to love her the way that he did. She was just a shell of the girl that she once was without him here to complete her. Finn was her person and he always would be.

She sobbed into the pillow, wrapping an arm around herself when a knock sounded on her front door. She almost ignored it, but eventually dragged herself out of the bed and wiped her her face off as best she could on her way to answer it. She would probably scare away whoever it was when she opened the door, but she didn't really care. Or at least she didn't think she did; the closer she got to the door, the quicker her heart beat.

Rachel looked through her peephole, surprised to find two men dressed in suits and holding up badges.

"Hello?"

"Rachel Berry?"

"Yes sir" she answered, stepping back as the agents let themselves in. They both looked to be roughly in their thirties or so, with dark hair and slight beards. It would have been comical how alike they looked had things been different. They were both even wearing the same expression, a mix of pity and apprehension.

"Is Kurt Hummel here as well?"

"No sir, he's out for the night. Are we in trouble for something?"

"No ma'am, not at all. We're actually here to deliver some news to the two of you. I guess, you can pass along the message though. What we're about to tell you might be a little difficult for you to process" One of the agents explained, speaking as if he were talking to a small child. He motioned her towards the couch as the second agent closed the door. "Have a seat, please."

Rachel paled, holding herself together the best she could as she walked backward and into their living room. She wasn't sure if she could handle any more bad news. It had been two months since Finn's death, and she was still almost as fragile as that first week.

"Ms. Berry, I understand that you were very closely associated with Finn Hudson. Is that correct?"

"Yes sir" she croaked, the hurt gnawing on her insides at just the sound of his name. This really wasn't healthy.

"And you were informed that Mr. Hudson was killed in a tragic accident two months ago?"

She nodded, unable to form words as she fought to keep the tears at bay.

"Ms. Berry, this is going to be a lot to take in, but we need you to understand something. Finn Hudson isn't dead, he's alive."

Rachel sputtered, unable to help herself as she stared, slack-jawed at the agents before her. Was this some sort of cruel joke? "I'm sorry?"

"While studying at the University of Lima, Mr. Hudson was a witness to a heinous crime. We are not at liberty to share the details with you as of right now, nor will he be able to, so we must insist that you don't pry. Mr. Hudson, being the key witness to what happened, was in danger, and immediately came to the Police, he's a smart young man. He was placed under protective custody, and his death was falsified to further ensure his safety."

Rachel blinked, trying to absorb all of the words coming out of his mouth, but it just didn't make any sense. She saw Finn, she had looked down at him, lying in his casket. There was no way possible, as much as she wished it could be. "No, no I went to Finn's funeral...I saw him."

"You did see him. You saw him highly medicated, in a medically induced coma. We covered all the bases Ms. Berry, we couldn't take any chances, these people are powerful. But not anymore, we have them under our custody, and we have more than enough evidence to put them away for good. You'll be happy to know that Mr. Hudson will be safe from now on."

She clutched at her heart, the second agent reaching forward to place a hand on her shoulder as she processed. She wanted to let herself believe it, she truly did, but she was so afraid. If she let herself have hope, and this all turned out to be a lie, or a very vivid dream, she would be shattered.

"Take a deep breath, deep breaths ma'am. Do you think you can handle this?" Rachel nodded, confused as she followed the two men to the door. "We're going to leave you now, to deal with this. We wish you both the best of luck."

Both?

They opened the door, walking out of the apartment as someone else walked inside. Someone very, breathtakingly familiar. Her lungs filled with air for the first time in two months as she stared at him, blinking repeatedly to make sure it wasn't a trick of her eyes. It wasn't, he was here.

Finn.

She gasped, her knees going out as she took him in. He was standing in front of her, dressed in a plaid shirt and his old jeans, a hesitant smile on his angel's' face. He was the picture of perfection. "Finn?" she whispered, not trusting herself to say more as she took a step towards him, reaching out to feel his solid chest underneath the fabric of his shirt, heat radiating into her fingers at her touch.

Rachel collapsed, sobbing furiously as he caught her, falling to the ground as well to hold her in his embrace. "It's me baby, I'm here. I'm right here, it's okay."

"You're real? This is real?" she cried, the tears streaming down her face as she looked up at him. Finn lifted her tiny hand, placing it over his heart so that she could feel the steady beat. "Feel that? You should, that's the right side, you taught me that."

She broke again, barely able to see through her tears as she stared at him."Finn, oh my God Finn! I missed you so much, I thought...I thought..."

"Shhh, Shhhh...it's okay now. I'm so sorry Rachel, I'm so sorry" he cooed, tears now pouring from his own eyes as he stroked her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "Please don't cry baby, I want to see you smile. The last two months all I've done is dream about your smile, can you smile for me?"

Rachel took a deep breath, allowing the joy of being in her love's arms again flow through her as she beamed up at him. It felt like it had been ages since she'd genuinely smiled, it felt good. "I love you so much Finn, you have no idea. I'm so happy you're here."

"I love you too" he smiled through his tears, releasing a shaky laugh as he crushed her to his chest in a hug. "You have no idea how much I've missed this. Every night, I would lay in that little bed of my safe house and I would pretend you were lying next to me. I'd hold you, and ask you about your day, and how your show was coming along. I'd imagine your smile, and your laugh, and even your cute little snore. I even lifted the covers when I had to pass gas so you wouldn't get pissed. I'd remember some of your favorite songs from glee club, and I'd just imagine you singing them to me in my mind until I fell asleep."

Rachel froze, listening to his words, hysterical laughter falling from her lips as she wrapped her arms tight around him and cried tears of joy. "Rach?"

"I suppose I was wrong then, I didn't miss you at all."

"What?"

Rachel pulled back, cupping his face in her hands as she spoke. "Each night, I would lay your picture next to me and I would talk to you. I would sing, and read, and I slept in your t-shirts every night just to feel like I was in your arms" she said, pulling on the t-shirt that she was wearing of his now as proof. "Is that not what you just described?"

He nodded, a thoughtful look crossing his beautiful face. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we were never really apart Finn. I never gave up on you, and you never gave up on me. We couldn't miss one another, because we were never really apart. I was right here" she said, pressing her hand back to his heart. "And you were here" she placed his hand over hers, "every moment of every day. Our love is magic Finn, it surpasses reality." A blinding smile lit up his face as the truth of her words hit him, choking up with emotion as he leaned forward to kiss the love of his life for the first time in too long.

Finn stood, cradling her to him as he carried her to her bedroom. He placed the small girl down on her bed, right next to the picture of him that she had talked about. He smiled as he looked down at it, his heart exploding with appreciation for the love she had for him. She grabbed the picture, placing a kiss on it before she laid it down on her nightstand, and opened her arms for him. He'd never loved anyone so much in his life, and he knew no one would ever compare to her.

Finn laid down, resting his hips between her thighs as he dropped his lips down onto hers. He kissed her slowly, reacquainting himself with the curves of her body as his tongue explored her mouth. It was familiar, and it was perfect, everything that he'd been needing for what seemed like an eternity. He would never grow tired of hearing her sigh his name into his ear as he kissed down her throat, or locking her tiny fingers in his hair to pull him as close as humanly possible to her.

He wanted her, no _needed_ her so bad it hurt, and the way she was squirming beneath him he was sure that she needed him too. But there was something he wanted to do first. He detached from her mouth, looking down at her swollen lips as she reached down to tug off her t-shirt. Before she could, he placed a hand on her wrist to stop her. This needed to come first.

"I wish I would've had a picture of you to keep with me while I was away, like that one" he said gently, nodding towards the photo. "I did have something else though."

He sat up on his knees and reached into his pants pocket, digging around before he produced a familiar, small silver ring. Rachel's breath caught in her throat as she leaned up on her elbows to stare at it, all of the memories flooding back to her. It was their engagement ring.

"I kept it. I always knew Rachel, I knew that it would be me and you in the long run. You're the only woman for me, ever, and everything that's happened these last few months has only made me even more sure. You once told me that life was too short, and I didn't really understand how true that was back then, but now I do. I don't want to waste another second not being with you, or not letting you know how I feel. I love you Rachel Barbara Berry, more than life itself, and I want more than anything to spend the rest of my life with you. If you're not sure about it, then take your time but I-"

Rachel cut him off, throwing her arms around his neck and yanking him to her for a deep kiss. She poured every bit of emotion that she possibly could into the kiss, letting him know her answer before she even spoke.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, pulling back a little lightheaded from the intensity as he wiped the happy tears from her cheek.

"Yes, one thousand times yes!" She held her hand out, allowing him to slide the ring back into it's rightful place on her finger, never to be removed again. We're endgame Finn, Finchel forever" she beamed, pulling him down to her again to seal their love with a kiss.

* * *

Rachel gripped Finn's hand in her own as they sat in the car, preparing themselves to go inside the little house. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she stared at it, knowing that his was doing the same thing. She could feel the tension radiating from him in waves as she looked up at him, offering a reassuring smile while she unfastened her seat belt.

"Burt's gonna have another heart attack, it's gonna be all my fault Rachel, I can't have that on my conscience" he said, rubbing his hands over his face in worry.

"He will not Finn, that's why I'm going in first to explain things to them. Calm down, I handled it perfectly well, you know they can."

"Rachel, you've been bursting into tears randomly the whole flight here, putting me in choke holds the whole drive crying into my collar. I can only imagine what my mom is going to be like" he sighed, staring longingly at his home. "And you're forgetting Kurt's here. We lucked out that he wasn't at the apartment, and had come home for the weekend, I didn't know if I was ready to face him back there. He's probably going to _actually_ kill me when he finds out what happened now" he groaned leaning his head back on its rest.

"Finn Hudson, you look at me" she chided, turning his face to her with his chin. "You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, and you're going to get through this just like you soldiered through everything you've experienced the last two months" she said, noticing the pain in his eyes. "Had I been in your shoes, there's no way I would have made it. Matter of fact, I would've probably ended up dead as soon as I found myself in whatever situation it was that you found your way out of. You did the right thing Finn, you helped the Government find those monsters and you prevented us from having to actually deal with your loss by doing so. You can't be ashamed or feel guilty about that, you did a good thing, you saved us and God knows who else. You're my hero Finn."

She gave him her trademark, megawatt smile as he leaned forward to kiss her. He could do this, he wanted to do this. His heart was about to jump out of chest at just being so close to his family again, so he nodded to her, signaling that he was ready. Rachel leaned forward to kiss him again before she exited the vehicle and walking up the street to knock on the door. He ducked down, hiding in his seat as he watched her make her way inside the small house.

Finn waited, waited for what felt like years before his phone finally beeped with a message from Rachel. **_Now._**

He took a deep breath, calming his racing heart as best he could as he got out of the vehicle and started his march. Just like back at Rachel's apartment, his heart fluttered wildly, his palms started to sweat, and his legs turned to a consistency close to Jell-O as he approached the familiar wooden door. Before he could even knock, it flung open to reveal a red-faced Kurt, eyes and mouth wide open as he stared at him.

"Hey bro-"

Finn was immediately cut off by Kurt flinging himself at him, throwing his arms around his neck and tugging him into a hug. Almost as soon as Finn registered what was happening and moved to hug him back, it was over. Kurt pulled back, raising his clenched fists and pounding them against Finn's chest weakly as the tears streamed down his face. It didn't hurt, not in the slightest, but he could see the hurt written all over his brother's face as he pulled him tightly against his chest in a crushing hug.

"I'm sorry man, I'm so sorry" he whispered, closing his eyes against his tears as he felt Kurt relent his punches and embrace him back.

"Don't you ever do anything like this to us again" he cried, pulling back to look at his long lost brother. "We've missed you so much."

"I promise" Finn said, shaking his head. "I missed you guys like crazy." He looked up, finally meeting eyes with Burt as he made his way over to him, his mom hidden behind him which was okay, he knew all of his walls were going to break when he finally faced her.

"Rachel told us all about it son, we're so proud of you" Burt choked out, obviously trying to hold back his own tears as he looked at Finn. "You were brave, and you did the right thing" he smiled, reaching forward to grasp Finn's hand.

Finn gripped the his hand in his own as he smiled widely at him. He was happier than he had ever been to see Burt, the man who had taken care of his family when he couldn't. "Thanks Dad."

At Finn's words, Burt choked out a deep sob, releasing Finn's hand to pull him into a bone crushing hug. It was one of the very few times that Burt had ever hugged him, and the importance, the love behind it was not lost on Finn. He cried into the man's shoulder, wrapping his arms tightly around him as they embraced. Finn finally opened his eyes as they released, eying Rachel and Kurt holding hands on the couch, until his gaze fall on his mom, standing just a few ahead of him.

"Mom..." he whispered, taking gentle steps toward her.

The tear tracks ran down her smiling face as she reached her hands out to him, cupping his face. "My baby" she cooed, wiping his tears away with her fingers as he sobbed uncontrollably. "My baby's home. Oh, my sweet baby" she cried, "We missed you more than you'll ever know baby, but you're here and that's all that matters. I'm so proud of you baby, my big strong boy."

Finn pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck as he cried, his shoulders shaking against her as the emotions racked through his body. He wasn't even sure how he was standing, but he was. It really was true, you never know how strong you are until you have to be. He cradled her trembling frame to him as he felt someone else beside him. He looked down, spotting Burt joining into the hug, as well as a sobbing Kurt and a smiling Rachel.

His family.

The little family stood in the middle of the living room, embracing one another in a large group hug for what felt like years before his mother finally pulled back. "You look undernourished sweetie, were you taking care of yourself" she asked, wiping the tears away as she took in his guilty expression. "I thought so, let me fix you and Rachel a plate, we just had dinner."

"Actually, before you do, I had another announcement to make" he said, taking his mother's hand and giving it a squeeze before he turned his gaze to Rachel. "This is going to be a lot like deja vu, but-"

"The two of you are getting married, for real this time" she smiled, reaching up to kiss his cheek before leaning over to hug Rachel and give her a kiss as well.

"Wha- How did you know?"

"Sweetie, I'm your mother, we can sense these things. I was always sure of it, and I was certain as soon as she said you were alive that it wouldn't be long. I never thought there would be anyone else, it's always been her. You have my absolute blessing" she smiled, settling the matter as she took Rachel's hand and led her into the kitchen as the men followed. "Now, Rachel, do you want any of the chicken? Obviously we had no idea any of this would happen so I hadn't prepared anything for your special diet-"

"Mrs. Hudson-Hummel, I'll gladly eat anything that you've prepared" Rachel beamed, holding Finn's hand on top of the table. "Let me help you with that."

Finn smiled watching his girlfriend moving about the kitchen with his mother, tasting the casserole and excitedly asking her for the recipe. He turned, Burt placing a hand on his shoulder as Kurt launched into a heated story about the tattoos that he and Rachel had gotten during their grieving. Finn laughed loudly, the sound rumbling from his chest as Kurt pulled up his shirt to reveal the tattoo, Burt almost choking when he saw it for what was apparently the first time.

Finn basked in contentment as he sat at the table, his mom coming to sit at his other side, gripping his hand, as Rachel sat herself next to her. He grinned up at them, as he ate his fill. The dinner was nice, peaceful, exactly what he needed as he laughed, and caught himself up with the people that he loved.

His family.

_**Thank you for reading! I hope that you have enjoyed my dream!**_


End file.
